*This is part 2 of 4 of a series of posts focused on "Live Tweeting". For a background on the event used in this series visit here

As part two in this series I wanted to share a number of the strategies used, the reasoning behind them and the associated results. The hope is to share the behind the scenes thinking for others and also gather feedback about the approach in the hopes that we can all learn a bit more about how live tweeting can be more meaningful for nonprofits.

Created a unique hashtag specific to the event

Reasons For Doing ThisThere were multiple reasons for using a unique hashtag for this particular event. The main reasons included:

To create a subtle branding opportunity

Increase the ability to track and measure metrics

Increase the ability to use third-party tools for sharing

ResultsOverall, the use of a unique hashtag had a positive impact. In terms of the branding opportunity it seemed to help but I would say with only minor impact. For the Twitter savvy folks in their community the hashtag of #B2BW may have reinforced a connection to the event title of "Born To Be Wild" but for the most part I think it served greater logistical value.

The highest level of impact from the use of a unique hashtag was clearly in the area of metrics. The use of a unique hashtag was critical in the application of tools such as Rowfeeder, Tweetdoc and Paper.li. More specific information on these tools is coming in the last post in this series later this week.

The unique hashtag was not necessarily critical to the use of third-party tools for sharing but did add some advantages as covered by the next example.

Embedded stream of live tweets on website

Reasons For Doing ThisThe idea behind using Hootsuite to embed a stream of related tweets using the unique hashtag was two fold. The first was to provide a way those not very savvy on Twitter (or maybe not even on at all) a way to get and follow the related posts. Possible introduce thsoe just curious about Twitter or unsure of how it can be used by organizations. The second was to create way to drive traffic to the website where the organization hoped to connect on a wider range of topics then just this event.

ResultsThe results are a bit of a mix in this area. As you can see from the Google Analytics results below the number of pageviews for the event landing page had a significant increase just before and the day of the event. The main issue here though is that there is no guaranteed way to know if these views were related to the embedded twitter stream or some other purpose. Maybe everyone was coming just to check on the time and directions.

Even with a level of uncertainty the impact is enough that some level of success can safely be associated with the live stream of tweets.

Google Analytics report of pageviews for the event page leading up to and the day of the event.

Planned a portion of the tweets ahead of time

Reasons For Doing ThisThe hope of live tweeting this event was not only to share quotes and snippets but to truly share at a level that even those at the event may not experience. This was accomplished by researching and saving drafts of tweets ahead of time that contained the following:

Links to speaker bios

Presenters organization websites

Links to examples of important elements in the speeches

This allowed for high quality content to be shared and freeing the person up running the live tweet to then focus on the "live" elements worth sharing during the event.

ResultsThe results of this had a positive impact on multiple levels.

The staff running the live tweet reported saving drafts ahead of time relieved some of the stress of during the event.

Increased support of partners by driving traffic to their websites as well

Metrics indicated that some of the most traffic links were those that were planned ahead of time (Secondly only to links of images)

Strategically solicited help promoting

Reasons For Doing ThisThe Nature Conservancy of Washington did not have a very large following on Twitter at the time of the Live Tweet event. The thinking was then to reach out to strategic partners in an effort to get the word out to other interested communities and at the same time possibly connect The Nature Conservancy of Washington to new people.

ResultsThe results of this strategy were so interesting that they warranted their own post to explore and will be the next in this series coming later this week. Always looking for a reason to bring you back.

While there were obviously more strategies in play I thought these served as good examples and fodder for feedback and discussion.

What about you? What are some of your favorite strategies, what has worked, what didn't and what strategy advice would you offer a nonprofit thinking about live tweeting?